![Kate Winslet in \"The Reader\"](http://www.raisedpath.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/winsletsmall1.jpg "Kate Winslet in \\"The Reader\\"")
Image by Melinda Sue Gordon Courtesy of The Weinstein Company
Copyright© Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Am I the only moviegoer who gets annoyed at seeing trailers for upcoming, critically acclaimed films and then never sees the films open anywhere near him? This concept of opening end of the year films is bad enough because a lot of studios are pushing their Oscar films but why open them in limited release? Then we have another month of commercials and trailers and no films or an extremely limited three-theater release somewhere out in East Bumblefudge.
Then add to the mix the idea that the best films of the year come out at the tail end of the year giving us garbage to watch for months. Why is that? Until the summer movies open the first couple months of the year are usually lame. Anyone remember Rambo and 10,000 BC at the start of last year? Hollywood will be Hollywood and summer releases and Christmas releases are two of their biggest money making times of the year-It is called “Show Business” after all.
But what kind of business are they doing when commercials keep plugging away their films and they’re still not playing anywhere? Mickey Rourke won Best Actor at the Golden Globes a few weeks back and I believe The Wrestler is just about in three theatres in New Jersey. Milk is nominated for Best Picture and is only playing in Red Bank. Frost/Nixon is also nominated and after months of trailers is finally opening a bit bigger this weekend.
Then we have The Reader also nominated for Best Picture that opened for a week in one local theater and vanished. The good news is that it may finally be time for the often overlooked and beautiful Kate Winslet to take home an Oscar for that film. But there lies another issue I have with good ol’ Hollywood. Why are the Oscar nominated films always so depressing? Why is death and depression a big winner at the Oscars?
The first half hour of Slumdog Millionaire is dark and depressing and the last half hour of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is really sad. Are they well acted and directed films? Yes. Do they leave you with a lot to ponder and appreciate? Yes. Do the Oscars love depressing films? Bingo!! The Reader is about an affair with a Nazi, Milk ends none too happy, and the sad part is the lightest fare is a movie about Richard Nixon?! When Richard Nixon is your ray of sunshine I think Hollywood should re-think its nominations!!
Why does this mean so much to me? Well, since I was taken as a boy to that magical place at the age of 5 to see Star Wars in 1977 I was hooked. I teach Acting and Film and have worked in Indie Films the last 12 years and try to constantly explore, feel, and share. What I can tell you is that there has been a change in film the last 15 years or so because of Independent Films. Deeper and darker subjects have been explored and great actors have been discovered doing dirt-cheap projects that paid them nothing because they believed in story telling. I just feel that comedy and lighter more life affirming themes should be embraced as equally as the darker films that always get nominated.
Here’s the Grand Finale since I bounced around like a super ball on this one:
The fact that Hollywood is embracing Independent Films is a blessing. The fact that they release the Best Films of the year late in January after months of trailers and commercials is annoying. The fact that they opened Valkyrie (A good film about trying to murder Hitler) on Christmas Day is mind-blowing!! As the late Ethel Merman once observed,” There’s no business like Show Business.”
Darren
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There is this wonderful little theater near my parents house that has only one screen, but that screen will always be playing one of those hard to find films. It is a shame that it can’t compete with the huge megaplex cinemas, but it is a much more intimate experience. I think they only run one show a night, but it always seems worthwhile. My whole family went to see Slumdog Millionaire during the holidays there. It is a shame that it can’t compete with the huge mega-plex cinemas as the quality of the experience far exceeds the impersonal environment of the large movie theaters I usually frequent in Manhattan. I hope that the Oscar nominations for the more obscure films may help the more obscure theaters that do actually show them.
I look forward to your Oscar wrapup!
Well, I have to agree with you about the dark thematic nature of films being released these days. You didn’t mention Reservation Road – oddly snubbed by The Academy and possibly one of the best acted, but jeez, I was depressed for days after. In fact, my husband and I even considered going to see Yes Man as an antidote to all of the heavy films we’ve been racking up. We still have to see Doubt and Frost/Nixon to catch up on all of the nominations.
As for end of the year releases, you need to get out of Jersey a little more often
. I’ve been traveling quite a bit around the country and haven’t had any trouble finding theatres playing these films.
Thanks for sharing Wynne and I will certainly try to get out of Jersey to see those Films, Natasha. Yes-Reservation Road was overlooked and much better than The Reader. Sometimes I wonder how they pick nominations because some years they promote certain films more than others inside the Academy. Would you believe they actually campaign for Oscar-Crazy?!!
Show business like any other business seems to be hurting these days. I guess I’m high maintenance, but I don’t many theater experiences. Cell phones going off, people talking, etc.
I guess I kind of like depressing films but I also like uplifting ones too. There just don’t seem to be that many of them. It’s probably why I’ve watched Field of Dreams a 1000 times.
I have to confess that I haven’t seen any of the movies nominated this year so I can’t put my two cents in for Oscar buzz etc. Come to think of it though… I can’t remember a pic that won an Oscar that was uplifting. Can anyone name one?
This great question posed by Marc made me go research and Rocky has been the most uplifting and that was in 1976.
Perhaps the whole socio-economic outlook for the past several years has affected the choice of subject matter for the film industry. It does appear that there is a dark quality to a great many films for this year. In regards to Oscar nominations, throughout the history of the Academy Awards, it was rarely the truly exceptional films that were winners of the Oscar. Although some of the nominated and winning films have been “feel good” films like Forest Gump, a majority have been films with heavy emotional content. It is very much the same with great literature. Books that have won Pulitizer Prizes are not comedic, though some are satiric. The winners usually deal with human nature and ideas that are dark and serious, that attempt to delve into human foibles and act as political and social commentaries of their period in history.
Very interesting discussion from all of you. A not to be missed film being nominated for Best Foreign Film is ‘The Class’, in French with subtitles that were OK.
Great Stuff Renee and Peggy-Keep it coming Everyone-:)